Gift Suggestions for kids?!

What are the hot gifts this year? DD is 4.5 yrs and I'm not sure what to get her! You'd think she would be the easy one but when I ask her she says doll clothes and coloring books - both of which she has a ton of. What is the deal with Squinkies? Am i missing the cool, fun of them?!?! Do you think she is too old for Littlest Pet Shop? My sis has a ton of stuff from when my nieces were little so could get her 1-2 new pieces and then have the old ones to add to it.... DS's 3rd birthday is this week so I guess I'll see what he gets for that and go from there.... He's pretty easy though - cars, cars and more cars!!!!

Hey Kelli, sorry to hijack, but can you guys tell me how long (till what age) kids play with kitchen sets? DD turns 3 in January and that is her favorite thing when we go to someone else's house- she plays with it the majority of the time. We now have room for one, but not sure how long her enthusiam will be there?

Never heard of Squinkies or Little Pet Shop stuff. Man, my kids must be deprived.

My girls (10 and 7) have Squinkies, Zoobles and Littlest Pets. Of all three, the Littlest Pets have held their attention the longest. They still play with them now. They have little tree houses and stuff that you can buy to put the pets in, and they just recently started selling pets that are battery-operated and move.

Liz - we got DD her kitchen set for her 3rd birthday and she still, at 4.5, plays with it often. She'll go in spurts when it will be a few weeks that she doesn't touch it but for the most part she LOVES it still. I should add that we moved it to the basement a few months back but ODD and DS play downstairs often. DD loves to pretend play in general though...

Alex and your DD are the same age. We got her games for her leapter, a new bike, littlest pet shop toys, a happy napper, new bike helmet with bell, coloring stuff, lallaloopsey, tangled doll from disney store, pajamas, a ds case and game (my mom got her a ds), and a lite sprite. i got a few other things but can't remember. I wanted to get her the leap pad, but can't find it anywhere.

i am so not ready to figure out xmas gifts. the kids want everything they see in the many catalogues we get. i keep expecting odd to ask for a nintendo ds but i can't tell if she really wants it or not - will ask for it sometimes, then not mention it. i've been looking at the leapfrog and vtech "ipad" things but don't know which ones is better or if it would be better to get a leapster for tom (3 1/4). odd also loves American Girl but it is so expensive and she's lost a bunch of stuff we've bought so I'm not sure I want to buy more.

looking forward to seeing more posts on this thread.

re the kitchen, I forget how long odd used it but I think Tom would use it more if it was in a better place. I want to set up a grocery/kitchen station but we don't seem to have a good place for it. Both kids really like the Melissa and Doug food toys (ice cream cones, sushi, cake, etc.) and we also have a grocery basket, cash registers, etc. anyway, I think the kitchen sets are usually of interest to kids until at least 4 years old or so, although I suspect my odd would still play w/ it as well.

They have a whole bunch of squinkies for boys (see above) and my older daugher's playmates that are boys LOVE them (she is 8 years old). Also, think about the pokemon stuff. All the boys we know love pokemon.

Kelli - how about Barbies? Alyssa (4.5) likes to play with them. We also have the Fisher Price loving family doll house which both she and Aubrey love to play with, so they are getting extra things for that - a cabin and an RV. Also on Alyssa's list - leapster games, littlest pet shop, zoobles, polly pockets, squinkies. She LOVES games - some great ones are Dont Wake Daddy and Zingo (my fave). I don't think she is too old for Littlest Pet Shop. Actually, I would say quite the opposite. They are so small I wouldn't recommend them for much younger.

Liz, Alyssa at 4.5 still plays with her kitchen a lot. We have seperate kitchen pieces though. This helps as there is room for the girls to spread out while they are playing. She plays more advanced with it now - for example - she'll take my order in a notebook and then go cook it and ring me up on her cash register. We have some really cool food and I think thath elps also - it really looks real.

Kate - I got Aidan (age 7) Marvel Squinkies for his stocking. They weren't on his list but I think he'll be happy that he got some. This child would put me in the poor house. Here is what is on his list (but he isn't getting all of it) Xbox 360, TV, ipod touch (which he just bought himself with his bday money), air swimmers, air hogs remote control helicopter with crane, simon flash, defiants, legos - (ninjago, city, alien conquest), matchbox video racer, Fosil Fighter games for his dsi, Just Dance for Wii,